The End Of the Dream
by Thirteenth-Spider
Summary: There is no Gaia. The dream is over and all of them, and all that happened, was in the real world.
1. Chapter I: LA TORRE

Disclaimer: I do not own Vision of Escaflowne.

**The End of the Dream**

**Chapter I- LA TORRE:**

Summer. The last day of school has come and gone. No more studies, no more assignments, and no more varsity until the next year. To start her whole summer experience right, Hitomi positioned herself on the end of the track and breathed deeply.

Amano's words echoed in her head. "Focus everything you've got and launch yourself forward." She shook her head wildly, put herself in running position and waited for Yukari to give her the signal.

"Three..." Yukari started counting.

"Two..." Amano got ready to swing Hitomi's pendant.

"One!" The pair shouted, as Hitomi dashed towards the finish line, which was 100-meters from the point from where she started.

She passed the 25 meter mark... 50... 75... then...

BLAG!

Hitomi collided with somebody. It was a boy who was probably her age, with raven hair and piercing brown eyes.

"Hey watch it!" screamed the newcomer.

"Excuse me!" shouted Hitomi. "But I wasn't the one who wasn't looking at where I'm going!"

"Hitomi! Are you alright!" called Yukari. She and Amano ran towards her and helped her up.

"Hey, you!" Amano said as he approached the boy. "You shouldn't be around here when it's not your PE class. This is the varsity's practice area!"

"Oh yeah!" the boy shouted. 'Well, you shouldn't be here this late at night either!" He faced Hitomi and glared. "And you," he said "Why don't you watch where you're going!"

Hitomi stared at the boy, wondering why he was so angry. Yukari hid behind Amano.

"What are you staring at, weirdo!" the boy shouted. "You should get away from here if you know what's good for you!"

Hitomi was angry at the boy's rudeness, especially since he called her a weirdo. She put one hand on her hips and pouted. "Well... excuse me," she said sarcastically. "But from the way I see it, you were the one who was crossing the track field without looking!"

She had expected the boy to make another rude comment so she was surprised to see the boy so still. He fixed his hands on the stick that he was carrying and was warily looking around the area. "Stay back," he said calmly. "Run away, now."

"Why?" Hitomi asked. "What's wrong?"

"They're coming..." the boy whispered. "Go! Run now!" he commanded to Hitomi and her friends.

They heard a lot of heavy footsteps running towards their direction. Soon they found themselves face to face with one of the toughest high school gangs in the district, The Dragons. They were a really mean bunch, made up of burly beer-bellied teenagers who each had a weapon at hand: chains, metal poles, baseball bats, etc. The leader of the group was a brown haired young man who had only one eye. He leered at the boy with his good eye and asked his men, "So, should we let fine Prince Van get away from us?"

"NO!" the other Dragons shouted in unison. This was followed by a cheer that to Hitomi seemed like a barbaric war cry.

The leader laughed so hard that his beer belly gave one the impression of a 6.5 degree earthquake. Then his eye shifted from the boy, to the track field and then to Hitomi. "Ah," he said as he saw her. "Who can this fine young lady be?"

Hitomi gripped her duffel bag and moved one step back. "Come now," the leader said. "Don't be afraid of me..." He licked his lips deviously.

"Leave her out of this!" screamed the raven-haired boy whose name is Van, positioning himself on a standard kendo stance. "You were fighting me, remember!"

"Hmmm, I wonder what is more fun?" the leader asked calculatingly. "Chasing after a war freak little prince or chasing after two gorgeous young women and a pretty boy?"

The gang cheered. "The girls! The girls!" one of them shouted. "Oh, give the pretty boy to me, we'll have so much fun!" another one said.

Amano met the Van's glare and took both Hitomi's and Yukari's hands. "Let's run," he said. They ran across the streets and towards the mountain temple that was in the woods in front of the school.

Van ran towards the leader's back, ready to strike with his sturdy wooden stick. But the leader was anticipating this move, as he suddenly turned back and punched the boy in the stomach. The leader then motioned for his gang to run after Hitomi and the others.

"I'm sorry, sweet prince," he said mockingly at Van. "But the Middle Ages are over and it's time for us to go." He kicked Van and ran after his men, laughing.

"I'm not letting you get away..." Van said as he picked himself up from the ground, picked up his trusty stick and chased after the thugs.

"They're after us," Yukari screamed as she tightened her grip on Amano. She twisted her ankle earlier so Amano offered to carry her on his back.

"Shit!" Amano swore as he ran faster. He looked back at Hitomi and shouted, "Faster Hitomi! Faster!"

But they already reached the temple and now there was nowhere else to run. The path ended there and they were already surrounded by the Dragons.

Just when they were about to lose their hope they a loud scream. Van came and had just knocked a thug unconscious. He then continued attacking the group. But he couldn't break through a group of thugs so easily, especially since they were all big, fat and ugly thugs!

"Such spirit!" the leader laughed. "Very well then, boys," he said to his men. "Leave the little prince to me!" He stripped off his leather jacket and exposed his naked fat stomach to all that were in the area.

"Oh, eww..." Yukari commented. The beads of greasy sweat falling from boss Dragon and his wonderful pig-like aroma was enough to make a really squeamish person vomit.

Van faced the leader fearlessly, looking straight at the eyes. The leader smirked and motioned for him to come closer.

"I'll give you one last chance," Van threatened. "Give me back what you stole from me and nobody gets hurt."

"What?" the leader asked, feigning innocence. "You mean this?" He pulled out an intricately carved gold necklace with a rare pink stone on its center from his pocket. "You want your Mama's little trinket back?"

"GIVE IT BACK!" an enraged Van screamed as he charged towards the leader. But with one mighty swipe from the fat guy's enormous arm sent Van flying, hitting the nearest tree. This did not discourage Van. He stood up quickly and jumped in the air, attacking from above. He hit the leader on his thick skull.

"Owww..." the leader said. "Kid's got more spirit than I thought..." He laughed and grabbed Van by the neck. "How about this, kid? Join us and I'll give you your trinket back... whaddya say?"

"Go to hell," Van said. He spat at the leader's good eye, which caused the leader to let go of him. Van ran a few steps away from the leader and positioned himself for attack. "I'll send you to hell, fatso!" he screamed as he charged again.

As Van was again repelled by the leader, Hitomi saw one of the thugs take out a knife and sneak behind Van. "Van, watch out!" she screamed. Van heard this, saw the man behind him, grabbed his wrist and hurled him towards the leader, knocking them both down.

The leader pushed his heavy man off him and staggered as he got up. Taking this opportunity, Van again charged at the leader. The leader blocked his chest with his flabby arms, but this wasn't where Van attacked. Van bent down and kicked the sensitive body part that boys have but girls don't. The leader wasn't able to bear the pain of this probably fatal blow to his manhood and fainted. Van fished the necklace from the leader's pocket, wiped it with his handkerchief and then put it around his own neck.

Now, the thugs, noticing that their leader had already passed out, were shivering like little naked kittens in the cold. "The leader's defeated..." one said. "The kid's a monster!" said the other. One of them said the most intelligent thing that could possibly come from their mouths. "Let's run for it!" this tiny soul suggested. So the thugs picked up their weapons, two of them carrying their leader, and ran away.

Hitomi ran down from the temple to check on Van. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm not that bad off that I need a woman to worry about me," Van said snobbishly. He put one hand on his waist and added, "Let me guess, now you want a reward. Fine then, you can come with me. But don't get too cocky. It's your fault for involving yourself in my battles. It's not like you helped anyway."

Hitomi slapped Van on the cheek. "What's with you!" she screamed. "I thought you were going to die! I was worried! The least you could have done was to say thank you!"

"Oh, shut up!" Van said. "You people are all the same! You find out that I'm rich and then you start sponging off my money!" He grabbed Hitomi by the wrist and dragged her down the mountain. "You're getting your reward whether you want it or not!"

Amano couldn't chase after Van because he was already tired and he couldn't put Yukari down. So all he could do was shout, "Hey, you! Where do you think you're taking Hitomi!"

"Yeah, you brute!" Yukari screamed. "Let go of my best friend!" But it was no use. Van's grip was tight and Hitomi had no choice but to be dragged along by the jerk who couldn't say a simple thank you.

** End of Chapter I **

Author's Notes: I posted it because I've been lazy in creating this fic. And substituting stuff from our world for Gaian stuff is hard. So I need your help! Please review me. Constructive criticism is good. (Note: constructive, meaning no "You suck!" reviews.) Domo arigato gozaimasu.


	2. Chapter II: IL FUSCO LA LUCE

Disclaimer: I have never been to Gaia, except which is not related to the Vision of Excaflowne Gaia.

**The End of the Dream**

Chapter II- IL FUSCO/ LA LUCE 

"So very glad that you came back safe, Young Master," the chauffer said as he started the car. "And who is this young lady that you came with?"

"Hi... Hitomi Kanzaki," she said shyly. She's never been inside such a rich car before and it made her quite uncomfortable. The seats were soft and leathery and there was enough space in the back seat for you to stretch your legs. The chauffer wore a uniform of black and gold and he looked cleaner than the normal people you can meet in the street.

"And you go to the same school as Master Van? It's nice to see that he's starting to make friends now." The chauffer smiled at Hitomi, making her more uncomfortable. She looked at Van, who was staring outside the window with a far-out look in his eyes.

"Van, where are we going?" Hitomi asked.

"Fanel Mansion," Van answered as he pointed towards large gates that were in front of them. "My home," he added.

The chauffer got out a cellular phone and dialed a number. "Hello," he said. "This is Jindark. Young Master is back home, please open the gate." Hitomi was surprised to see the gate automatically open. Van smirked at Hitomi as the car drove on through the gates and towards an enormous mansion.

When Hitomi heard the thugs call Van a rich little prince she never expected it to be this true.

"Master Van!" The servants ran towards the door and bowed at Van. Among them was a tall and muscular man who stood up and smiled at Van.

"Welcome back, Van," he said casually.

"Balgus!" Van said, smiling. "How were things while I was gone?"

"VAN-SAMA!" this voice came from a small tan girl with pink hair who was running towards Van. She jumped and gave Van a hug. She then kissed Van's cheeks again and again and again...

"Stop it, Merle!" Van said as he laughed. "Everybody's looking!"

"But I was so worried!" Merle said as she stopped kissing Van. She still held on to him, though. "Van-sama always gets into fights..." she added.

Hitomi stared at the girl, finding her very weird. Merle somehow reminded her of a frisky little kitten. Merle saw Hitomi stare at her and glared. Hitomi pouted and looked away.

"Master," one of the servants asked. "Have you and your lady friend eaten dinner already?"

Van looked at Hitomi. "No... no, it's okay. Thank you," Hitomi said politely. But she was betrayed by the loud rumbling of her stomach, complaining that she hasn't eaten yet.

"I haven't eaten dinner yet," said Van to his servant.

"Dinner shall be served soon," the servant said. "For the mean time, would the young lady kindly wait in the waiting room?" The servant bowed as he took his leave. Another servant smiled at Hitomi and led her to her room.

Hitomi couldn't move from the soft plushy chair in the guest's waiting room. She was still overwhelmed by the luxury surrounding her. There was a bouquet of exotic flowers on the end table beside her. The curtains were made of soft silk that still managed to hide the room from the outside world. Seats that were similar to hers surrounded an antique coffee table, which was probably as old as the golden mirror that hung in front of her. Beside the mirror was a cabinet, which held trophies, medals and other small golden trinkets. Hitomi thought of her own living room, which consisted of a worn out sofa, an old television set, a dusty coffee table and the occasional little brother who wouldn't let you watch your favorite TV shows.

Imagine her surprise when she found out that she wasn't alone. Merle was there, staring at her. She glared at Hitomi and sat on the arm of her chair. "Hey you," Merle said. "I don't want to see you get too familiar with Van-sama, got that?" She combed her hair with her hand and smirked.

"What do you mean?" Hitomi asked. "I don't think- Hey! Stop that!" she shouted as she saw that Merle had already jumped off from her seat and was now rummaging her duffel bag.

'Wow! You have a lot of ratty stuff, Hitomi!" she laughed as she tossed Hitomi's stuff around.

"Stop that!" Hitomi commanded. "That's my stuff!" Merle stopped digging through her things and stared at Hitomi. Then she smirked and with one swift motion, she yanked Hitomi's necklace from her neck and ran.

Merle stopped by the door and stuck her tongue at Hitomi. "I bet you can't catch me!' she said as she ran out of the door.

"Don't you dare mess with an athlete!" Hitomi shouted as she started to run after Merle.

She never expected Merle to be able to run so fast. As a member of the track team, Hitomi imagined that she would have been able to catch Merle by now. But no, they ran through stairs, rooms and balconies and she still hadn't caught the little kitten yet.

Hitomi continued to chase after Merle until she noticed that one of the doors was ajar. She peered through it and saw Van and Balgus, both in kendo attack position.

"KYAAAAAAA!" Van screamed as he shot towards Balgus. Balgus anticipated this move and was able to block Van's sword with his own. He was then able to disarm Van.

"You're not charging aggressively enough, Van!" Balgus said. "Come to me like you're going to kill me!"

Van laughed. "But I'm not going to kill you, Balgus," he said. "I'm not going to kill anybody."

"The point is you're attacks are slow and predictable, Van!" Balgus scolded. Then he sighed and then saw Hitomi by the door. "I think we have a visitor," he said calmly as he smiled at Hitomi.

"I... ano..." Hitomi said as she fiddled with her fingers. "I didn't mean to snoop, I know it was bad but-"

"VAN-SAMA!" Merle jumped in and gave Van another hug. Hitomi sweatdropped.

It was the kind smile from Balgus' haggard face that gave Hitomi the courage to go in the room. She was relieved that there was actually a genuinely kind soul in this house of gold.

"Van told me about what you did," Balgus said. "You saved his life."

Hitomi blushed. "I didn't really do much..." she said shyly. She glanced at Van and saw that he and Merle were happily chatting.

Balgus smiled. "Miss Hitomi," he said. "Kindly grace us with your presence in tonight's dinner. When that's over we shall escort you home and help explain to your parents why you were late."

Hitomi smiled back. "Thank you, Balgus," she said. "That would be a lot of help. I can imagine my Mom's expression when I get home by myself..." Hitomi pouted and imitated her mother. "Hitomi, where have you been? Hitomi, it's late at night! Hitomi, you are going to be grounded for a week!" Hitomi sighed. "Maaa... am I going to get it."

Balgus laughed. "Don't worry, Miss Hitomi," he said. "We'll work things out after we have our dinner."

In the kitchen, two chefs were talking about dinner. "How about some lobster?" asked one chef to the other.

"No way," said the other chef. "It would take a long time for us to cook it and Master Van is probably very hungry."

They stopped talking as they heard a loud rustling from the bushes outside the window. The first chef thought he saw a certain muscular but beer-bellied boy stumbling across the small garden fence. But he just rubbed his eyes and dismissed it as some illusion caused by the steam coming from one of the kettles.

Suddenly, somebody threw a flaming glass bottle through the window. The bottle hit the kitchen's gas tanks setting the whole kitchen on...

"FIRE! The whole house is on fire!" The servant then ran outside the room, screaming "Fire!" all the way.

"Van-sama!" Merle said as she looked outside the room. "Van-sama, the fire's coming!"

Van scrambled to get up, picked up his kendo sword, hid his mother's necklace behind his shirt and grabbed Hitomi and Merle by the hand. "Balgus!" he shouted. "Let's get out of here!"

They scrambled out of the room and ran towards the corridor. They saw fire everywhere. Nothing in the house wasn't burning. The servants were all either trying to put out the fire or trying to get out of the mansion.

"There it is!" Van shouted. "The main door's open! Let's go!" They ran as fast as they could, him, Hitomi, Merle and Balgus. But then the ceiling began to crumble and before Van was buried in wood and embers, Balgus pushed him aside. Instead of Van, it was Balgus who was buried.

"Balgus!" Van shouted as he saw his kendo master buried under burning wood. "Balgus, let's get out of here!" He took Balgus by the hand and tried to pull him out. "Merle! Hitomi!" he called. "Help me pull Balgus out!"

The three pulled as hard as they can but they couldn't save Balgus. Hitomi noticed that Balgus showed no signs of pain or panic. Balgus had on a sad smile and was looking at Van.

"Van," Balgus said. "Forget about me. Take Merle and the young lady and leave this house."

"But Balgus!" Van cried, hot tears stinging his eyes. "I can't leave you here!"

"A master can't bury his student!" Balgus said, still smiling. "It's not the natural order of things. Van, please!" He let go of Van's hand. "Go, Van! GOOOO!" And with this shout, fragments of the ceiling fell and buried Balgus whole.

"NOOOO!" Van screamed. "Balgus! Balgus!"

"Van-sama!" Merle was also crying. "Van-sama, let's go!" She pulled Van out of the house. Hitomi followed them, her feet feeling as heavy as lead.

The three of them stood outside the gate of the burning mansion, Van, Merle and Hitomi. Merle was slumped on the grass, sobbing, as Hitomi held her close. Van just stood there, staring at what was left of the house in silence.

** End of Chapter II **

Author's notes: Missing Dilandau already? Wondering what I did to him? Stay tuned for the next chapter which shall be completed once I'm able to borrow my friend's Vision of Escaflowne VCDs.

I hate what they did to Dilandau in the Animax dubb. Dilandau does not scream "Burn baby burn". He is not a disco addict. There are no discos in Gaia. I hate what they did to them as much as I hate the cartoonnetwork Shaman King dubb.


End file.
